Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

Tá an cheist seo pléite go mion-mhinic againn ag an am seo gach Céadaoin óna toghadh mé go dtí an Seanad. Léiríonn sin an tábhacht na ceiste do Sheanadóirí agus do pháirtithe, go háirithe agus sinn ag caint faoi forbairt réigiúnach agus tuaithe. Tá fadhbanna ann agus, cé go n-aithním go bhfuil an tAire ag déanamh obair mhaith leis na fadhbanna sin a réiteach, ceann de na fadhbanna is mó ná nach bhfuil an réiteach sin ag tharlú luath go leor. Dúirt an tAire go bhfuil an Roinn ag foghlaim agus ag feabhsú ach do na daoine atá ina gcónaí san iarthair go háirithe, áit ina bhfuil an tseirbhís seo gan, níl an dara rogha acu ach a bheith ag fanacht go dtí go bhfoghlaimeoidh an Roinn agus go gcuirfidh sí an tseirbhís seo ar fáil faoi dheireadh.

This debate is very important and I commend the Labour Party on placing this motion before the Seanad. Since I have been elected, most of the use of Private Members' time has been to debate broadband availability in different formats, including Eircom, speed, cost and availability. Sometimes when we debate broadband we look only at availability and that is the wrong debate. While it needs to be dealt with because there is a lack of broadband in huge parts of the country, we need to deal with the other aspects. We need to deal with the costs of providing broadband and the speeds. In some people's minds once one provides broadband everything is OK, but it does not work like that. In the same way we would not drive around in cars made for the 1940s or 1930s. One needs to grow with the times and keep up with the market in the rest of the world because we are competing with other regions. Technology is changing all the time.

Since the Minister has taken office he has done a substantial amount of work to deal with this issue. He said the world is flat when it comes to technology. The Minister knows, because every report has shown it, that while the country may be flat, there is a huge wall, known as the digital divide, between east and west. My report, Awakening the West, has sown the digital divide that exists in this country. While the moves that have been made by the national broadband scheme and other schemes, for example the 12,000 houses and businesses the Minister talks about connecting, are to be welcomed, it is far too slow. It should not take a number of years to get the ball rolling so that the 12,000 houses that have been left out of the national broadband scheme have access to it. It will probably take another two or three years to deliver broadband to those areas. These businesses, communities and households deserve the same services as other areas. It is unfortunate the Government has allowed us to be in the position we are in today.

As a colleague from the Government benches mentioned, Eircom should be nationalised. It was a crime that Eircom was sold off and that Ministers are down on bended knee begging Eircom, a private company, to enable exchanges in rural Ireland and other parts of the country. That should not have happened. I am sure the Minister's party would have opposed it at the time and we must examine this issue. I did not have the chance to examine it, but my report has identified the excessive cost customers in this country pay for the service. The limited service is not good enough. We need to look forward and not just be catching up.